416. Worms Feeding on the Body

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It is an Oriental opinion that worms exist in the skin and in all parts of the body, and that they are among the principal causes of its destruction. Roberts (Oriental illustrations, p. 271) quotes from an ancient Indian medical work in which eighteen kinds of worms are enumerated by the author in as many different parts of the body. In Job 19:2626And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (Job 19:26), the translators have supplied the word worms: “Though after my skin worms destroy this body.” Though the word is not in the original, yet the sentiment is in accordance with the text we are now illustrating and with several other passages. See Job 7:5; 17:14; 21:265My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome. (Job 7:5)
14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. (Job 17:14)
26They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. (Job 21:26); Isaiah 14:1111Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. (Isaiah 14:11). In India it is common for a sick man to say, “Ah, my body is but a nest for worms; they have paths in all parts of my frame!” “Ah, these worms are continually eating my flesh!”